Steam
by muviri
Summary: What else do you get when you mix fire and water? Zutara.


on a whim...what can I say?

* * *

She misses him. La's sake. She doesn't even want to mull over all the different, gutting, and complicated ways she does.

_That's_ what Fire Whisky is for.

But because she does she races towards Zuko's room, as soon as Sokka suggests one of them head to inform him of the current situation.

And that is also the reason she is stood outside the Fire Prince's room, looking more and more like a fool with each passing moment.

"Zuko?" Katara spoke quietly as she stood outside the large red door to his room. She received no answer, but opened the door anyway.

His room was orange.

Something about that made Katara smile.

Maybe it was the fact that his room was orange rather than the Fire Nation red she had imagined it would be.

Maybe it was the fact that miniature Earth Nation figures old and tattered, where on the ground, as if Zuko had only recently put them down.

Or maybe, in fact, it was the sight of the Fire Prince himself sat on the foot of his bed, golden eyes wide and focused on her.

They stood there, frozen for a second, and then Katara started to giggle. She couldn't help it. His face was between shocked and annoyed, as he held a Water Nation figurine in his right hand and a Fire Nation one in his left.

He removed the dolls from his hands slowly, and stood from the bed. Katara's breath caught in her throat, as all audible thoughts left her mind. And all that was on her mind was the smaller scale versions of them laid crookedly on the bed.

And that was enough to make her smile.

"You have to hand it to her." He said, and suddenly he was close enough for her to hear his whisper and feel it tickle her skin.

"Toph sure does know how to make one think."

Katara nodded.

"She sure does."

Zuko's hand suddenly traveled to Katara's neck, and she paused, breathing deeply.

"We shouldn't-"He started, and suddenly everything seemed much too heavier and no, _no_-

She crushes her lips to his to shut him up, and he kisses her like it's nothing new and everything at once, like the world might not be ending from an evil Fire Lord or freaks of nature or even demons (Yue, she can't beilive this was considered _normal _in her life).

"It's not down to you." Katara said as soon as she can breathe again. A line she's wanted to say since the day he'd left her."Because I'm being completely selfish when I say, _I need you_."

"I need you too Katara." He said whispering. "I know I do."

Katara nodded in silent agreement, grabbing his hand and walking towards the bed sitting them both down. They laid down facing each other for a moment. And at that moment Katara was reassured, that he (every confusing morsel of him) was definally all she needed too.

"Every day for almost three years I prayed you'd say those words to me." Katara said.

Zuko blinked. His fingers moved fast and suddenly they were on top of her hand.

"Just those words?" He asked. Zuko sighed, and his face flickered, maybe it was a trick of the light but she saw raw emotion in his eyes.

"That was all it would have taken." She says." I didn't dare pray for more."

He put her fingers on his lips.

"Don't you dare say the word honor." Katara said, meaning it. "Or I will stick you to that wall."

He kissed her fingertips.

"I don't doubt you could." He said. "Besides, I'm not anywhere _close_ to honorable right now, and the worse thing is, I don't even care."

She finally breathed and laid back down on his bed, admiring the golden stitching of his bedspread.

"You do care." She said, fingering the string. "But I wouldn't want you any other way."

He turned to look at her as she spoke."But you care so much that in a few hours we are going to be right back where we started.

You are going to try and push me away, then act all princely and detached and start talking about the Avat-" Zuko did not let her continue, he was kissing her. When he was sure that she had shut up, he pulled himself away from her lips.

"I'm not going to push you away." He said assuredly, while his hands ran through her hair. "I don't think I can. I just don't have the strength to keep away from you any longer."

Katara smiled, trying not to laugh.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Because even if you do, I'm telling Aang as soon as we find him."

He stopped."Are _you_ sure?" He asked, incredulous.

"Yes." She touched his face, feeling his scar. She ran a finger around the edge of his bruise.

The contrast in color between his alabaster skin and the angry scar was fascinating. It looked like it still hurt (although she knows it doesn't). It looks like a marking, like it should have some kind of deep symbolic meaning behind it.

It looked like it belonged there.

It marked him, not only as a banished prince, but as someone who's had to turn his back on what he once believed in, someone much unlike herself.

He slowly rose from the bed, and guided her up with his hand. Katara looked away from the scar to find Zuko staring at her intensely. She tried to break the tension by smiling.

"All I want is you." She reassured him, only voicing what she knew to be common knowledge.

There's a lingering itch of skittish unease under her skin, it raises to the surface when his tone turns too serious and his eyes too focused ,for a moment, on a future far beyond her."I can't continue like this."

He kissed her again, opening her mouth with his. Katara gasped, and then he talked. "I refuse to continue like this. Even if he hates me, even if you don't love me afterwards, even if you leave me, I can't hide _this_."

"I'm not leaving." Katara whispered in his ear. "Not without you_._"

"I know."

She cannot talk anymore. She is too happy to trust herself not to propose, right there and then. But something he said puzzled the waterbender.

"What?" She asked. "You think I'd leave you?"

"Not of your own will. I think I'd make you."

This was not the moment to discuss such heavy matters. This was not the moment to discuss anything. Being with him again is the only thing Katara cared about. And honestly, she couldn't care _less _about his country, her honor, his duty, or even Aang.

"You would never be able to. I'm here for life."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow." Zuko said and suddenly she stopped. He stopped too.

"There are things I need to tell you."

Zuko grinned and started moving towards her, kissing her again. "The world can wait for a moment so I can kiss you again, can't it?"

"I wish it could." Katara whispered her prayer."Oh how I wish it could."

"I've missed you _so_ much." He said and it was the first time he had said it since she got to the Fire Nation. "You, being here makes this place finally feel like _home_."

And with that the couple fell back on to the golden sheets, limbs tangled.

Even Destiny waited , just this once.

* * *

Hmmmm I did Zutara, and I don't think it was too terrible!

...if it was tell me...

Review!


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